Open Finished Lembas, Lammas, and Leavened

"A little more flour, I think..." Celeste murmured to herself as she tipped the mixing bowl of sprouted wheat dough onto a clean and floured granite countertop so she could start working it. Adding a little more flour, Celeste knead the dough until it was pliable, then she put it to one side to let it rise before baking.

As a witch from a druidic background, this evening Celeste was making lammas, a specialty bread that was made as part of the Celtic ritual of Lughnasadh. A ritual she loved taking part in because it reminded her - as it was meant to - of all the big and small sacrifices that were made in life, and that people should never take anything for granted.

When the bread was baked, cooled and ready - Celeste had made a few buns, a braided loaf from the dough and a loaf that looked like a bundle of wheat. She then put everything in a picnic basket along with a yellow, orange, and red candle, some apple cider, a few shafts of wheat, a goblet and a few other things from her garden.

"Kids, I'm going out for a little while," she called out, pretty sure that her children were probably in their rooms or somewhere nearby. "I should be back soon," she added as she took the basket and headed out back into the garden, and towards the forest behind the house to set up the altar dedicated to Lughnasadh so she could begin the Celtic Harvest ritual.


(This is open to anyone that wants to participate.)

Celeste, unaware that Ebvion was following her, set out towards the middle of the forest to find a small clearing where she could set up her altar to Lughnasadh. After a few minutes of searching, she came across what she was looking for: a tree trunk stump large enough to set her items upon so she could make a small altar.

Placing her picnic basket on the ground for a moment, Celeste took out a small, but a very sharp pocket knife and began to carve some Celtic runes into the trunk. All the while quietly repeating a cleansing spell while she worked.

"Ebviony?" Celeste murmured in surprise when she heard - or thought she heard - their voice echoing around her. It was a strange phenomenon ... in fact, her first instinct was to think they were somewhere behind her in the forest and their voice was echoing back to her for some reason. But after a moment, she realised that no, her youngest had silently followed her out into the forest and was actually standing in front of her now.

"Ebviony," Celeste said again, this time relieved that she wasn't imagining things. "I didn't realise you had followed me," she told them as she put away her pocket knife.

"I was doing a cleansing spell," she explained. "It helps clear the area from any negative energies," she explained, suddenly remembering the question they had just asked.

Celeste was clearly taken aback by Ebviony's question and the shock of such an idea - or that they would ever think that or even worry about it - showed on her face. She had never thought about them being a negative force or energy.

"No, not at all, you are not negative energy," she assured them holding her hand out to them. "Your energy - Eldritch energy - is neither good nor bad. It is beyond that. I'd say that if anything, it's chaotic perhaps," she said, trying to explain it.

"What I meant by negative energy is energy that means to harm, or hurt others," she told Ebviony. "and I know that you don't mean to harm or hurt others, or cause mischief," Celeste said in a reassuring tone, trying to calm her child's fears.

"Ebviony!" Celeste cried out when he collasped to the ground, clutching his ears in pain as the butterflies that normally swarmed around and were part of them seemed to back away.

Celeste's first instincts were as a mother. She wanted to rush forward, scoop Ebvion up in her arms and protect them from whatever was harming them. However, the witch in her was also desperately trying to break through her shock, trying to make Celeste aware of the correlation between their cleansing spell and what was happening to Ebviony.

Trembling, Celeste tried to reign in her emotions, even though she could feel herself starting to panic. She had never had to deal with such a situation before. The white magic she was using, she had always assumed was inoffensive and that it was just to clear the area so that nothing would interfere with the spell..sort of like starting with a blank sheet.

"It'll be okay, Ebviony, I promise, just hold on, ple-please..." she rushed to reassure them, trying to hide the fear she was feeling as she used a spell to lift her fae child up a few feet off the ground and move them away from the altar and to somewhere, she hoped, that was safer for them.

Moving Ebviony a good hundred meters away, Celeste set them back down on the ground, still unsure and so scared that she had hurt him badly. "Ebvion?" she whispered softly as she dropped down to her knees and crouched down beside them, afraid that she had harmed her child, and not sure what to do.